A Russian journal “Vocational education” has recently published an article by Petri Lempinen, an ETF expert and country manager for the Russian Federation. Mr Lempinen writes about skills competition and Russia joining them. Skills competitions can be used as a tool to develop vocational education and training, if competitions are connected to everyday teaching and other activities of VET colleges. This will take years to achieve as example from Finland has showed, but in the end efforts will be rewarded. Russian Federation has joined the World Skills International, a non profit organisation to promote worldwide awareness of the contribution that skills and high standards of competence make to the achievement of economic success and individual fulfilment. Membership in WSI makes Russians a family member of “Olympic Games of the vocational training“. It is also an excellent piece of news to all friends of skills competitions. Mr Lempinen’s article is in Russian. It is followed by English translation.
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1. Skills Competitions A tool for modernisation of vocational
training Petri LempinenRussian Federation is about to join the
World Skills International, a non profit organisation topromote
worldwide awareness of the contribution that skills and high
standards of competencemake to the achievement of economic success
and individual fulfilment. Membership in WSI makesRussians a family
member of Olympic Games of the vocational training. It is also an
excellentpiece of news to all friends of skills
competitions.WorldSkills Competition is the biggest global skills
competition. It is a biannual international eventwhere young
professionals from all member countries of World Skills
International compete duringfour days for the world championship in
over 45 skills categories. The next competitions will takeplace in
Leipzig, Germany in 2013+. The organisers expect more than 1000
competitors toparticipate in World Skills Leipzig.The first main
effort for Russians will be establishment of the national team to
participate in Leipzigin 2013. Before that Russians could also gain
experience of the competitions by visiting in the thirdEuroSkills
that will be organised in October 2012 in Belgium. Participation in
this event is limited tocountries that are members in EuroSkills
Organisation.Participation in WorldSkills Competition is an
expensive operation and each country should take allbenefits out of
it. The fact that Russia is considering to send the national team
to Leipzig can beused for promotion of secondary VET and its
relevance to labour market. This is one way toincrease
attractiveness of training but it works only if it reflects
realistically learning opportunitiesthat vocational training offers
in Russia.Skills competitions can also be used as a tool to develop
vocational education and training, ifcompetitions are connected to
everyday teaching and other activities of VET colleges. This will
takeyears to achieve as example from Finland has showed, but in the
end efforts will be rewarded.Quality of vocational education and
trainingWhat is quality of vocational education and training? There
is no simple answer to the question butquality can be described as
a relevance to the needs of labour market. This implies that
learningoutcomes, skills and competences, meet the needs of actual
jobs that are available at the labourmarket. In summary provision
of good quality vocational education and training meets the needs
ofcustomers, who are namely the students and local or regional
labour market where graduates areexpected to find a job.Labour
market has a demand for a variety of skills that can be achieved
from vocational or highereducation. This provision of training can
be addressed either to young people or to adults that arealready at
labour market. The main message, that has been globally confirmed,
is that more andmore jobs demand key competencies which are not
related to technical demands of a givenoccupation. E.g. social
competencies refer to ability to work effectively with other
peopleunderstanding codes of conduct. The sense of initiative and
entrepreneurship includes meansability to turn ideas into action.
These are all competencies of a modern professional worker
orspecialist.If the idea that quality of training can be judged
against the needs of the labour market is accepted,then it is
possible to understand how quality of training can be evaluated at
different levels.Firstly at the system level VET should address the
needs of employers, and individuals at the sametime. A balanced
system of education and training provides labour market work force
with differentqualifications and skills for different occupations.
This demand can be expressed in qualitative andquantitative
demands. Are qualifications up to date to provide skills that are
used in contemporaryeconomy? Is the volume of education and
training sufficient to the number of people in need oftraining and
number of jobs available at the labour market? Are policies and
strategies defined bypublic authorities supporting provision and
development of quality training?
2. Secondly at the level of education and training institution
like a VET college quality can beevaluated against the capacity of
school to provide training to applicants and provide adequateskills
to surrounding labour market. Is the school system able to
accommodate all applicants andprovide them with good skills? At
institutional level the key issue is autonomy of training
institutions.They need powers and means to react to different needs
that they observe.Thirdly at the level of an individual student
quality of training reflects successful performance andgraduation
leading to employment after studies. This reflects the teaching
methods and learningenvironments that can support or destroy the
motivation of students. Quality is closely linked toattractiveness
of VET. Education and training can be an attractive choice for
young people and theirparents if it gives possibilities for gainful
employment. This requires that also employers are awareof skills
and competencies that VET gives to graduates.Finland and skills
competitionsFinland has gained over 20 years of experience from the
modern skills competitions. The firstnational championships were
organised already in 1988 with some 30 participants competing in
twoskill categories, occupations. A year later, in 1989, Finland
participated in the World Skillscompetitions for the first time.
The first national team was not victorious but by participating
FinnishVET people got a good idea of the nature of skills
competitions.The first serious attempt to organise the work around
competitions was taken in 1993 when a non-profit association Skills
Finland was created. Skills Finland is in charge of organisation of
nationalskills competitions and participation of Team Finland in
international competitions. Skills Finland isan exceptional NGO as
it combines the interest of the government, social partners,
trainingproviders and VET students. National Board of Education,
VET providers and colleges, employerorganisations, trade unions and
student organisations are members of Skills Finland. Widemembership
means that Skills Finland has a unique position as network
interlinking all majorstakeholders of vocational education and
training.The second attempt was taken in year 2000 when Finland
applied to host the 2005 World SkillsCompetitions. The competitions
were granted to Finland and this was the start for the
strongevolution of activities around competitions. The key success
factor since that has been the fact thatcompetitions have been
linked to national VET qualifications and the most of the actual
work isdone by VET teachers. Implementation of the competitions is
based on VET providers will to usethem as a tool to improve quality
of training.Focusing the national levelThe most important of level
of skills competitions in Finland are national championships, which
arecalled Taitaja, and semi-finals in which competitors are
selected for the national championships.These activities are
complemented by pre-semi-finals that some institutions organise
among theirstudents. This is a practical way to engage thousands of
students into competitions which in the endlead to participation of
the national team of 40-50 competitors in World Skills
Competition.National skills competition Taitaja is the annual three
day event for more than 400 young VETstudents and apprentice who
are under 20 years old. They were selected among over
1800participants in regional semi-finals in which all VET providers
can participate. Almost all providers ofIVET sent competitors to
semi-finals.Skills Finland grants the right to organise the event
to VET providers. Taitaja is the biggest annualVET event in Finland
with an audience tens of thousands of people. This means that only
big VETinstitutions are able to host the competitions. The
competitions are accompanied with a lot ofevents, like skill shows,
try a trade opportunities, an educational fair and various
conferences. Thebudget of organising one national competition is
around 3.5 million euros. This is covered by theorganiser with its
partners and sponsors. There is often financial support from local
or regionaladministration and also from Ministry of Education and
Culture.
3. Since 2006 TaitajaPLUS is the Finnish National Skills
Competition for student with disabilities andspecial needs. This
competition is held annually together with Taitaja competition. Aim
of theTaitajaPLUS is to improve the vocational education of
students with special needs and raise theawareness of vocational
skills competitions for students with special needs. It also helps
to connectthe skilful competitors with each other and with
potential employers. Finland has participated also inAbilympics
since 2007 which are the global skills competitions for people with
disabilities and special needs.The third level of national
competition is Taitaja9 which is a playful competition for 9th
graders ofcomprehensive schools in craftsmanship. There are
annually more than 3000 participants inTaitaja9 competitions in
different schools and regions and they aim to improve knowledge
ofpractical subjects, particularly on technical and textile
handicrafts, in an inspiring way.Competitions and Finnish VET
provisionAt the moment there are 52 qualifications with 117
specialisations in the Finnish IVET system. Inprinciple all these
qualifications require a three year programme and they provide
access to highereducation. In Taitaja competitions there are some
40 45 skill categories which mean thatcompetitions cover a big part
of the national VET provision and needs of labour market. There
areannually more than 400 competitors in Taitaja.Skill categories
are in national competition are divided into six clusters:
building, catering services,industrial services, information and
communication technology, services and vehicle technology
andtransport. Individual skills categories vary from hairdressing
to plumbing and floristry. The variety ofthe skill categories tries
to take into account different sectors and needs of economy and
labourmarket.Finnish vocational education and training system
consists of Initial and Continuous vocationaleducation and
training. IVET is mostly targeted to young people as an option to
achieve aprofession and enter the labour market. CVT is targeted
for adults who need up-skill or re-skill theircompetences or change
an occupation.The competitions test the essential skills and
competencies of occupations to the standards set bynational core
curricula. This link between competition tasks and curricula is
extremely importantbecause it links competitions to everyday work
of a VET institution. On the other hand it is importanthighlight
that standards set in the national core curricula reflect labour
markets skill demands indifferent occupations. Also competition
tasks reflect real tasks that a VET graduates can perform
inenterprises. Since 2001 competition tasks have been collected
into data bank that is accessible forfree. These tasks can be used
in teaching and also in preparation to competitions.In Finland the
concept of student assessment is quite similar than concept of
skills competitions.Assessment of IVET and CVT students takes place
in form of practical skills or competence tests atwork places in
real work life situations. In both cases students are assessed
against the criterion setin the curricula and test by
representatives of an enterprise and VET teachers. This is usually
doneby skilled workers or specialists in the enterprises. Some
training providers have used practicalskills tests as a form of
competitions when they are selecting their team to be sent to
regionalsemi-finals.Involvement of teachers from VET
collegesCompetent teachers are the most important resource of
Finnish VET system. They need to havepractical experience from the
field of their teaching but they also have pedagogical
qualification.Usually VET teachers are recruited from the labour
market and after their career choice they enterthe pedagogical
education.Organisation of the skills competitions is based on the
active contribution of the teachers. Eachoccupation that is present
in competitions has a network of teachers to prepare competition
tasksand to act as judges in competitions. In World Skills
Competitions these judges are called experts.There are also
representatives from enterprises in these networks.
4. Skills Finland organisation has nominated so called Skill
manager to every category of competition.Their task is to
coordinate training for international competitions. The skill
manager also participatesin tasks of an expert (judge) in his
specific trade, undertakes the communication and preparation
oftraining with experts and trainers as well as administers the
reporting and financial responsibilities inhis trade.For individual
teachers participation in the skills competitions offers
possibilities for professional development.Through networking they
can benchmark their own college and training methodologies with
colleagues fromother colleges.Competitions as a tool for quality
managementQuality of vocational education and training is not an
individual and separate aim of developmentactivities. On the
contrary quality is the final result of all efforts to plan,
develop and organiseeducation and training. Consequently the
quality in VET is a management issue and it should be anintegral
part of everyday work at the college. It can be supported by tools
of quality assurance, butmore important for the management of the
college is to keep asking the crucial question: How wellis the
college serving the needs of different clients? This work can be
supported by practical toolslike skills competitions which create
links between different colleges and between labour marketand a
college.Skills competitions can support quality management in two
different ways. Firstly participation incompetitions provides
possibilities to benchmark the college against other colleges in
which skillsand competencies as learning outcomes are relevant
indicators. In skills competitions they skillsand competences are
measured against the criterion of competition tasks. This is
relevant to themanagement of the college, if competition tasks are
aligned with educational standards andcurricula. Hence this
criterion could be used systematically inside the college. When the
criterion isrelevant to employers and it is linked to
qualifications it supports the improvement of vocationaleducation
and training.ConclusionsAt the level of VET system policy makers
need carefully consider several issues when they want topromote
quality management. When VET policy is aiming to provide labour
market with betterskilled people, the most important issue is the
equality of VET providers in a country or a region.How to make sure
that all providers produce even or standard quality? Funding and
resources areof course needed but up to day qualifications and
curricula based on occupational standards are asimportant. Globally
speaking all successful VET systems are based on the competence of
teachersand workplace trainers who are aware of the latest teaching
methods.Secondly when a country is reforming or optimizing its
provision of vocational education andtraining, policy makers need
to make sure that old traditions and organizational cultures
dontremain inside new structures. They would harm the attempts to
deliver certain level of quality in allinstitutions or units. Shift
to new culture can be supported by openness of information but also
byintroducing new forms of cooperation between colleges. Use of
skills competitions in a federal or aregional context could be this
kind of practical tool.This article has presented some Finnish
experiences on the use of skills competitions in
constantimprovement of quality of VET. The main idea is that skills
competitions can be an important tool inmodernisation of VET if
they are connected to qualifications and curricula. The second
preconditionis that the practical work in colleges must be done by
VET teachers with the support ofmanagement.Useful Internet
addresses:www.worldskills.orgwww.euroskills.orgwww.skillsfinland.fiwww.taitaja2012.fi